Bank of America Botches Stress Test, Investors Lose out

If you’ve ever chastised yourself or a loved one for not balancing a checkbook, I hope you don’t own shares of Bank of America (BAC). The U.S. Federal Reserve ordered BAC to forget its plans to buy back shares from its investors and to cancel a planned dividend increase in the aftermath of the bank failing its recent stress test. The Fed announced BAC submitted incorrect capital ratios, which skewed stress test results. Bank officials blamed an “incorrect adjustment” linked back to when BAC acquired Merrill Lynch in 2009. Whatever the real cause, the result is the same: Bank of America has to resubmit to pass a new stress test and its current shareholders lose out in the meantime.